Pep Guardiola
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Man City boss Pep Guardiola’s praise for AFC Bournemouth duo Dominic Solanke and Philip Billing #MCFC

February 25, 2023
The Premier League champions head to Vitality Stadium tomorrow, looking to extend their run of wins against Cherries to 13. Cherries have never got the better of City in the club's history, but have showed promising signs in recent weeks with a draw against Newcastle United and victory against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend. Asked for his assessment of Gary O'Neil's men, Guardiola said: “I saw many good things I like about Bournemouth. “They got good results. The game against Wolves. They draw against Newcastle, with how tough it is. The defeat at Brighton but in the last minute. “They are so intense. If they do it away, imagine at home - so intense in high pressing. Really, really good. "After they defend compact, they want to try and play to play in different shapes. “They link really well with (Dominic) Solanke, the wingers and (Philip) Billing has huge quality. “My people help me a lot to discover what they do and I am quite impressed. “They do really good things. “I had the feeling that this season until the end, for all the clubs not just for us, that every game will be so tough. I don’t know why but that is the feeling I have this season, particularly.
Philip Billing
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Philip Billing unhappy with Bournemouth fans for booing Lloyd Kelly #AFCB

January 8, 2023
PHILIP Billing slammed Cherries fans for what he described as “unacceptable” booing of captain Lloyd Kelly during Cherries' defeat to Burnley. Early in the second half of Cherries’ 4-2 FA Cup defeat to lower-league Burnley, a section of home supporters aimed their ire at Kelly as he looked for a pass from centre-back. Kelly was one of three players to drop out of the starting XI, but was introduced at half-time with Cherries 3-1 behind. The 24-year-old, who was making his 101st appearance for Cherries, took the armband from Adam Smith when coming on as a substitute, but could not help mastermind a comeback. Speaking to BBC Radio Solent after the defeat, midfielder Billing said: “We are Premier League players and some of the mistakes are just simple details, passing out of play a few times myself as well. “But that is something we have to do better. We just invited pressure on ourselves when we didn’t need to. “We play like this against Burnley, we all know it’s unacceptable.” He added: “We’ve got ears, we can hear the booing and I don’t mind that, we can take criticism, all of us, that’s a part of being a footballer and doing what we do. “But today especially, I think it was unacceptable the way they were booing Lloydy, our captain, when he was on the ball. “Some fans will maybe say they didn’t hear it, but we all heard it. For me, I can take it, I don’t mind them booing us, because we know we have to play better. “But we are halfway through the season and when you hear our captain when he is on the ball getting booed by a lot of people, I don’t think that’s acceptable. “If you’re backing the team, we know it can be frustrating as a spectator, but at the end of the day we’re on the pitch and we have to score goals, we have to create, that will come. “But they have to understand when it becomes like that, it’s a domino effect, it translates onto the pitch. “If they want the best for us, we know we have to create a noise, we have to create an atmosphere, we have to create an energy in the stadium. That’s what we’re trying to do. “Sometimes we’re on a dip, like we are right now. But I believe in this squad, because we have good players. We’ve shown that, we’ve beaten good teams already. “We just have to keep positive and keep going. It doesn’t rain forever. At one point we are going to get points, get a win. “If it was the whole team after the game and they’re booing, I don’t mind. But when they’re just booing one player during the game when he’s on the ball, as a teammate, I don’t like to see that. It’s not fair. “We need the fans to be our 12th man throughout the whole season. I’m probably going to get a bit of stick for this, but I can take it. “Listening when I was on the pitch and I heard our captain be booed when he was on the ball, that I don’t think is acceptable. I always back my teammates, no matter what.” Cherries have now lost five games in succession across league and cup competition.
Philip Billing
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Philip Billing believes in AFC Bournemouth’s attacking ‘chemistry’ #AFCB

December 10, 2022
DETERMINED Philip Billing believes Cherries have the “chemistry” to add even more goals to their game in the Premier League. The midfielder was speaking after Gary O’Neil’s side sealed a 3-0 victory over Everton prior to the break for the World Cup. Cherries have 18 league goals to their name from 15 outings this campaign – a haul which is the 12th highest in the division. They have scored more times than the likes of Chelsea, West Ham and Aston Villa. Former Huddersfield Town man Billing himself has netted four of those, with Kieffer Moore the same amount. Frontman Dominic Solanke has three league goals this season. Asked about Cherries’ attacking prowess, Billing told the Daily Echo: “We are getting used to each other. We played and got used to each other in the Champ, me and Dom. “I am still looking for Dom every time I can really. I want him to score his goals because he deserves it. “We have got the chemistry and you can see that on the pitch. “Maybe when we get up, we can sometimes get our head up a bit more and look for our teammates because I think we can score even more goals. “I think there is even more goals for us. I’d like to have a statement win, maybe. “Of course, 3-0 is unbelievable at home against Everton but just the fact we can score even more goals – that’s what this team is capable of, we just have to keep looking for each other up front and it will come.” Having missed out on Denmark’s World Cup squad, Billing was part of Cherries’ warm-weather Dubai training camp. Gary O’Neil’s men are set to make the trip to Newcastle in their next competitive contest in the Carabao Cup on November 21. They then head to Chelsea in league action on Tuesday, December 27, before rounding off the calendar year with a home clash against Crystal Palace on December 31.
Philip Billing
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Philip Billing reveals challenge of ‘expecting more from myself’ despite strong start with Cherries #AFCB

November 19, 2022
DETERMINED Philip Billing insisted he was still “expecting more from myself” this season, despite his impressive start to the Premier League campaign. The attacking midfielder has featured in all 15 of Cherries’ top-flight games since their return to England’s elite level, starting on 13 occasions. He has netted four times in total, his strikes coming in games against Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, Leicester and Leeds United. The former Huddersfield Town man also registered an assist for Cherries in their draw at Fulham, helping Dominic Solanke score as part of a slick counter-attack. Despite his dazzling form for his club, Billing was overlooked for Denmark’s 26-man World Cup squad, having not been in the final five names revealed on Sunday evening. But, reflecting on his season as a whole, Billing insisted he was still eager to impress even further. Speaking about his form to the Daily Echo, before the Denmark squad was finalised, Billing said: “It’s going alright, still expecting more from myself, just finding the rhythm and trying to carry it on from last season. “The past two seasons in the Champ, the big question was can you score goals in the Prem as well? “I have got my own goals. I just want to keep going and working hard for the team. I should have had another one on Saturday which I was disappointed about. “I’m not going to get too high or get too low. I am just going to continue doing what I’m doing and do my own thing.” Cherries have headed into the World Cup break 14th in the league table with 16 points – three above the relegation zone. They are still odds-on with the bookmakers to be relegated this season, with an array of pundits insisting the Dorset club were destined for the drop at the start of the campaign. Billing added: “To go away and be on 16 points going into the World Cup break – it’s very good. We have to just be proud of that. “We can look around and see what the pundits are saying. You see it every year that someone is surprising, or the pundits think someone is going down and they don’t go down. “People can speculate and all of that but it’s been our focus from the start of the season to take each game at a time. “No matter who it is against we are going to give it our best shot because I think we can see we have more than enough quality in this squad to score goals, to defend, to get clean sheets. “Whatever is going on outside, at the end of the day the XI that goes on the pitch, we have each other, we back each other. We are going to do that throughout this whole season.”
Gary O’Neil
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Gary O’Neil believes ‘Fantastic’ Philip Billing can do ‘many roles’ #AFCB

October 1, 2022
INTERIM head coach Gary O'Neil praised the "fantastic" displays of Philip Billing during his time in charge so far, insisting the Dane has given "absolutely everything at every moment". Billing's performances in the win at Nottingham Forest and draw at Newcastle United earned him nominations for the prestigious Premier League player of the month and goal of the month awards for September, having netted in both fixtures. While Billing missed out on both prizes, to Manchester United's Marcus Rashford and Brentford striker Ivan Toney respectively, the company he kept among the shortlists highlighted his recent impact on the team. Asked what the 26-year-old had been like to coach in recent weeks, O'Neil told the Daily Echo: "He’s been great. "I think you’ve seen he’s extremely talented. He’s a good lad. "I judge him on what I’ve asked him to give the last three games and what he’s given. "What he’s given is absolutely everything at every moment, so much so that at the end of some games I look at him and think ‘you’ve given everything, we need to get you off’. "But he’s been fantastic for me. I’m looking forward to seeing more of the same on Saturday." Billing originally operated in a deeper midfield role under Eddie Howe following his £15million switch to Cherries from Huddersfield Town in 2019. But following Jonathan Woodgate taking the reins during the 2020-21 Championship campaign, Billing was moved to a more advanced role and showed his goalscoring prowess. The Denmark international netted in Woodgate's first game in interim charge, a 3-2 win over Birmingham City, before a spate of goals fired Cherries into the play-offs. He again showed his goalscoring touch under Scott Parker last term, bagging 11 across all competitions. In his 57 appearances under Howe and Jason Tindall, Billing scored just four goals. In 70 games since, under Woodgate, Parker and O'Neil, the Copenhagen-born ace has netted 20 times. Despite his hot streak last campaign, Parker returned Billing to a deeper role at the beginning of this campaign, but O'Neil has since moved him further forwards after taking over as head coach. Asked if he feels that is where he sees Billing contributing most at Cherries, O'Neil explained: "I think he can do many roles for us. "I think he’ll go through spells like he is at the minute where playing higher up will look like it’s a good idea. "But also if I played him as a number eight, I expect him to be as good at that as he is playing as a 10. "I think he’s technically talented, has physical attributes. I think he’s really important for us, whether that’s as an eight or as a 10, whatever it is. "He’s a big part of what we do." Billing will be looking to score for the third game in a row when Cherries welcome Brentford to Vitality Stadium tomorrow (3pm).
Gary O’Neil
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Cherries interim manager Gary O’Neil praises Dominic Solanke and Philip Billing #AFCB

September 21, 2022
INTERIM boss Gary O’Neil has praised hard-working Dom Solanke for doing the dirty work for Cherries, labelling the striker’s efforts off the ball as “absolutely massive” for Cherries. One-time England international Solanke opened his account for the campaign in the away victory at Nottingham Forest two weekends ago but was restricted to just two shots at Newcastle on Saturday. With Cherries on the backfoot and looking to hit the Magpies on the counter, the 25-year-old had to toil away out of possession, harassing and closing down opponents. Only Philip Billing attempted more pressures than Solanke, with the Dane edging past with 27 pressures compared to Solanke’s 26. Reflecting on how his striker has responded to the task of leading the line, O’Neil shared: “It’s hard for Dom. “I feel for him at times, but that’s the nature of the league. “We’re not going to dominate all of games all the time. “Dom works his socks off for me and you can see he comes off and we’ve not created loads of chances for him and he’s put in a load of work. “People that maybe don’t know, could underestimate how big Dom is for this group. “Absolutely massive. I couldn’t ask for a better number nine to go and face the challenges that we’re faced with.” In the absence of goals from Solanke, midfielder Billing has stepped up, netting twice in his last two appearances. Another player prepared to give it all for the side in terms of effort exerted, Billing also received praise from O’Neil. “And it’s nice, Phil has emptied the tank in every single game,” continued O’Neil. “I remember looking at him against Wolves to start with and then Nottingham Forest the same thinking ‘you’ve given everything, we’re going to need to get you off’. “He deserves his goals because he’s been brilliant since I’ve taken over.”
Philip Billing
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Philip Billing reveals enjoyment in new found freedom on the pitch #AFCB

September 14, 2022
PHILIP Billing revels in his “free role” in the Cherries midfield, with the midfielder believing it allows him to “concentrate about the football”. At the start of the season, the Danish international was deployed in a slightly unfamiliar role in Scott Parker’s new look system, with Billing tasked with more defensive duties than he had previously been during Cherries’ promotion campaign in the Championship last term. The 2021-22 season was arguably the peak of Billing’s career so far, with the 26-year-old contributing 10 goals and 10 assists in his most productive season to date. Billing opened his account for the current campaign with a wonder-strike against Nottingham Forest in Cherries’ last game, with the Dane restored to a less restrictive role under interim head coach Gary O’Neil. Speaking on the freedom he has been given, Billing told the Daily Echo: “I enjoy playing the free role. “Just playing free and going on the pitch and not having too many things to think about. “Just concentrate about the football because I know my ability, I know what I'm capable of. “Just to have that free kind of role and get into the space and roaming the pitch, it’s nice. “Of course, I still have to help the team defensively, which we all have to do, that's what I have to do every game.” With Cherries still looking for a permanent head coach, Billing pointed out Cherries were in a good position after picking up seven points in their opening six Premier League games. However, the former Huddersfield Town man is also aware that there is plenty of football still to be played, calling upon his teammates to continue “building” on their solid start. He added: “Like I said, it's just the beginning. We just have to keep going. “Still very early doors. Hopefully we just keep building on that.”
Philip Billing
Posted in2022-2023-Season Daily News

#PLStories- Philip Billing highlights changes in his position after Cherries win against Aston Villa #AFCB

August 7, 2022
PHILIP Billing hailed Cherries’ “positive start” to the season, stating that the side were “tactically unbelievable” in their 2-0 win over Aston Villa. The Dane played the full 90 minutes as goals from Jefferson Lerma and Kieffer Moore saw Cherries victorious on the opening day of the season. Scott Parker committed to the three man central defence experimented in pre-season, with Billing sitting in a midfield two with Ben Pearson. Speaking to the Daily Echo after the game, Billing shared: “Obviously a good win against a top side. “We’re only one game in but it's definitely a very positive start. “I think what we showed today is what we're all about and, just back enjoying it. "Three points back home against Aston Villa, a top side to play against, good players. “We were tactically unbelievable today, and aggressive in everything we did. We were unbelievable all over. We have to keep on going.” When asked how his new role in midfield differed to his swashbuckling displays last term, Billing detailed the changes to his duties. “It’s a lot different,” he added. “Last season I was more box to box, obviously got ten goals, ten assists, so this season is a bit different, more of a holding midfielder. "I have to stay back and watch the front three, create chances. “I'm sure the more season the goes forward, the more I get forward as well. But today again, that’s a good team, so you just have to be aware and be consistently good. "And that's what I was just focusing on today.” Billing also stressed how it was key for Cherries to get off to a winning start ahead a tough run of fixtures. “I think it was very important, looking at our next games but like I said it's the Premier League at the end of day,” commented the 26-year-old. “11 v 11, anything can happen. It's our start of the season. It's a tough one but it's one you just got to look at and enjoy. “You come up against the best in the world so we’re going to have to get ready for it and go and enjoy the moment.”